Trilobe: Le Temps Retrouve

tHE FACE OF TIME

PRESS RELEASE | 1078 WORDS | 10 MINUTE READ

A Mystery Unfolded: At first glance, this bust is intriguing. No hands, no dials, no numerals. It is neither a watch nor an automaton. Nothing suggests a horological nature. It invites you to come closer, to listen to the subtle ticking, a discreet witness to the fusion of art and mechanics. Come closer, and the revelation unfolds; the illusion dissipates: this is not just a sculpture, it is a riddle in motion. A face, your face, begins to come alive.

Image courtesy - Trilobe

A Living Mechanical Structure

Here is Le Temps Retrouvé, a living sculpture that disrupts the codes of time and embodies the ultimate expression of Trilobe creativity. Because our environment sparks reactions in each of us, this mechanical work of art does more than just tell the time: it reveals it, it breathes it, it sculpts it. Named Le Temps Retrouvé, it owes its name to Proust’s masterwork (In Search of Lost Time), a work resolutely focused on memory, the passage of time, and the essence of what surrounds us. With a perfectly unrestrained vision of time, it stands as a manifesto against the race for the second. A sculpture that invites you to slow down, observe, and interact

A Sculpture that Breathes, a Time that is Felt

Every detail of this creation has been designed to capture the essence of time, not as a mere measure but as an emotion to be lived and felt.

• Hearing: An organic heartbeat, a subtle rhythm that reminds you of your own vital cadence.

• Touch: Appearing cold to the touch, this transformed marble sculpture absorbs a gentle warmth in sync with its breath.

• Sight: Your eyes become the compass of time. They turn, marking the minutes, while your temples slowly open, rhythmically signaling the hours in a silent dance.

• Smell: An independent mechanism diffuses a custom-made fragrance into the air, like a secret breath.

• Taste: As for taste, why not enjoy a madeleine! Each moment is a reminiscence, a sensory journey to the past and the future.

Time, But Not As You Imagined

The time is not displayed… it is revealed to those who take the time to contemplate this face from all angles.

• Hours: Two sculpted rosettes unfold, one petal per hour, marking the passage of time before closing with a breath at midday.

• Minutes: They are read in the subtle movement of the eyes, which transforms the expression of the face.

• Seconds: Invisible, they are not counted. They are felt, carried by the sculpture’s breath

A Bespoke Creation for you, with Four Hands

Each piece is a unique collaboration with Maison Trilobe. At Stéphane Gérard Atelier in Paris, a visual artist sketches and sculpts your face. Our watchmakers reimagine the movement’s architecture, integrating 2050 components over 2,000 hours. A Parisian perfumer crafts a bespoke fragrance, intertwining emotions and memories, infusing your mechanical sculpture with life, elegance, and a lasting story.

An Unprecendented Mechanical Challenge: When the Sculpture Moves

Le Temps Retrouvé is a technical masterpiece. Halfway between an automaton and a clock, between sculpture and horology, this vibrant creation defies horological conventions while injecting the poetry of a mechanical dream. Never before had Trilobe explored such an audacious territory. To bring this exceptional piece to life, we assembled a team capable of combining high precision mechanics with artistic purity.

The Alliance of Matter & Motion

Sculpting a work with a horological mechanism is to make art and engineering converse. Alongside Stéphane Gérard Atelier, we reimagined the place of statuary in contemporary art. Far from classical ideals, our approach seeks to represent the authenticity of each individual through a raw and unapologetic aesthetic. Every relief, every imperfection becomes a signature. The sculpture comes alive, brimming with energy.

The face, sculpted from transformed marble and enhanced with an inner palladium sheet covering, combines robustness, delicacy, and precision. This unprecedented material, developed by Trilobe, allows for marble work with tolerances of less than a centimeter in thickness, necessary to integrate the horological mechanism. Every step of the creation presented a challenge: design, sketches, modeling, mechanical tests, materials, prototyping, adjustments, molding… A jeweler’s work where technique and expressiveness meet.

A Mechanism that Follows the Lines of the Face

Le Temps Retrouvé features 95% custom components, handcrafted by Manufacture Masur in Sainte Croix. Inspired by Parisian pendulettes, its futuristic design adapts to facial contours, merging art with mechanics.

• The eyes are not mere sculpted lines; they are moving gears. By observing their surroundings, they indicate the minutes with micro-millimeter precision, while subtly altering the expression of the face.

• The temples are not fixed: in the form of rosettes, each petal gradually opens hour by hour, on one side then the other. They close in the blink of an eye after a 12-hour cycle, revealing the hours in a mechanical ballet. The movement of these rosettes is orchestrated by a set of cams, irregularly shaped mechanical pieces, and through right-angle transmissions that allow them to complete a full turn in 12 hours.

An Unconventional Mechanical Architecture

The movement defies conventions with an entirely rethought architecture, seamlessly integrating into the sculpture’s aesthetics:

• Spatialized Architecture: Relocated driving mechanism enables advanced angle transmissions, direction inversions, and a custom gear train.

• 8-Day Power Reserve: Optimized transmission with a differential screw ensures autonomy and fluidity.

• Recoil Anchor Escapement: Inspired by modern pendulettes for precise regulation.

• Reinvented Balance Wheel: Brass shaft with tungsten carbide weight for rhythmic ticking.

• Innovative Gear System: Minimizes energy loss, ensuring fluid movement.

• Worm Gear Mechanism: Animates the sculpture’s gaze subtly.

• Expert Assembly: Balances technical performance with aesthetic finesse.

A Work of Goldsmithing Down to the Last Detail

Each component is oversized, every finish is amplified. Where traditional horology hides certain subtleties in the complexity of its components, here everything is exposed.

• Every piece of the movement is custom-made, sometimes taking more than a full day of work to achieve the level of perfection required.

• Horological materials: brass, steel, stainless steel, polished and worked with extreme precision.

• Finishes entirely done by hand, entrusted to a jewelry decorator, for a result worthy of artisanal excellence.

This unique creation is the result of four years of research and development, a somewhat wild collaborative effort, bringing together talents working over 3,000 hours of meticulous design. 12 A project filled with emotions, where mechanics, free, living, and immersive, comes to life before our eyes.

For further information, please visit www.trilobe.com